Introduction

You probably don't know me, my name is Josh Weissbock and I am a Masters student at the University of Ottawa up in Canada and I study Machine Learning. Many of the other authors on the Nations Network, who use advanced stats, typically use statistical models to analyze hockey where as I use algorithmic models. What I can do is use Machine Learning techniques which is an application of these same statistical ideas. Machine Learning is simply the ability for a computer to take a whole bunch of data, learn from it and be able to make decisions.

The Friends with Numbers are back, with a recap of the 1st Round of the NHL Playoffs; we take a look at what interested us, and what the main takeaways were from the opening round. Then, we give our predictions for Round 2, and break down each of the four matchups.

We would love to hear from you, the listener, for suggestions on future topics of discussion. Rather than us just being in our own little world, we'd like to make this as interactive a show as possible. Feel free to tweet at either Dimitri or Cam.

With Marc-Andre Fleury’s fourth consecutive playoff implosion, the Penguins have finally done the inevitable and decided to use a different goaltender in the post-season. With all due respect to his strong regular season play, the possibility of this was the biggest reason why signing Tomas Vokoun in the summer was a decision that had to be made.

Before we begin breaking down individual scouting reports for the various first round hopefuls I decided to survey the entire field from a high level using NHL equivalencies (NHLE). For those unfamiliar, NHLE is a method that corrects for league quality relative to the NHL, allowing us to compare kids across various leagues.

The leader in streakcred - Rmo2000 - has now crashed and burned and his streak is over at 8 wins in a row. In fact the entire top 20 players in the game have all lost their streaks and everyone is starting again from zero. This is the time for the second wave of people looking to play to get involved.

We need you Nation, team entries are lagging way behind what we thought they would be by now. Keep reading after the jump if you want to see your ol' pal Wanye beg you to support deserving charities.